MLB attendance woes.. a sign of a bigger problem?

[wounded mullet]

Seeing first hand the problems a franchise has had in bringing fans in to see a game even when a winning product is on display is nothing new to me.The issue has always been bigger for the Rays considering it's a franchise still in it's infancy and still hasn't carved out a niche of proving it's a legitimate baseball city.
Whats disturbing is the numbers coming in from established baseball cities.

From USA Today,

six teams have already had the worst single-game attendance in their stadiums’ history. It was 13,000 in Atlanta, 12,000 in Seattle, fewer than 9,000 in Pittsburgh. The Yankees and Cubs have had uncharacteristically huge expanses of empty seats. And in Cleveland, where the team has been surprisingly hot and hopeful, six games have already drawn fewer than 10,000 fans.

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So is this just a unfortunate small sampling of a fraction of a baseball season or is there something bigger going on here? You have the usual suspects of blame to go around, the economy,bad weather, etc.
Or do we need to address a bigger issue? Does baseball need to evolve with the culture of today? Do they need to look into cutting the amount of games to regain the interest of a fickle,short attention spanned public? Contraction maybe?

The issue with true baseball fans is that they are purist at heart. Loving a game that hasn't changed much outside of hypodermic needles and swimming pools in the outfield bleachers. That to me is the catch 22, you evolve to garner new fans but at what cost?
Then again it could just be an anomaly, yet i cant help but think this could be a disturbing trend.
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[milohimself]

MLB has already lost my generation. I don't think I even need both hands to count the number of people my age whom I know that consider themselves baseball fans.

 

[Regulator]

Part of their problem is they have a clown for a commissioner that looks the other way as his players 'roid up and smash records and they continue to be un-fan-friendly, despite these attendance numbers. Long games, late start times, constantly yanking videos off of youtube, etc. They have no idea how to market the product in modern times.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I think it's pretty simple, and it's why there are attendance issues across the board, in all sports. Everyone has a big TV now, and all the games are available in HD.

I don't think it's escalating ticket prices as much as the way everybody's time has been squeezed. I live maybe 20 minutes from Turner Field, but for me to catch a game down there requires a 5-6 hour chunk of time, which is dicey enough during the week. Or I can just turn on the TV and see the game better, for free.

I used to go to 20-25 games a year, and now I just go to a handful. Having small children has been responsible for most of that, but I'd be kidding myself if I didn't admit that having a gorgeous HD broadcast on a big TV in my house every night hasn't dramatically changed the effort/reward equation involved in going down to the stadium.

 

[YankeeVol]

I think weather is a small factor as well. The weather in NY has been pretty crappy so far this season. Price is a huge factor. I remember 3 years ago I got 2 tickets and parking to a Nationals game for the price of what I would have paid for one ticket to a Yankee game. This is why I will only watch baseball on TV.

 

[volfanbill]

I think the fancy new TVs and a crappy economy are almost solely to blame. There's too many baseball purists out there that still love the game (like me), but as Verci said, it's become such a hassle to go to the ballpark when I can watch 27 games (give or take) a month on HD for the same price as I would spend on two games, and get internet and all the other cable shows I want.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I've got a (single, childless) friend who still goes a whole bunch of Braves games every year. It used to be that any time there was a top-shelf pitching matchup, he absolutely had to be down at the ballpark for it. Now those are the games that he deliberately stays home, because he says he can watch the pitching better on his big screen TV. It's telling.

 

[VOLinthaNATI]

I agree 100% with the HD angle, and I also believe it's the economy because going to the game can get expensive, quick.

However, to me, there's nothing like going to the game. Period.

 

[BigOrange15]

I agree 100% with the HD angle, and I also believe it's the economy because going to the game can get expensive, quick.

However, to me, there's nothing like going to the game. Period.

There's not. Watching them on tv is good and all but you miss out of the full experience and that's half the fun.

 

[JTrainDavis]

I used to go up fairly often, but getting in and out of Boston sucks, and the trip and its hassles / costs are getting to outweigh the fun factor, especially during the week.

Now that nights aren't too cold, id rather sit on the porch with the radio on, its the perfect medium for baseball.
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